Nocturne Sonata (CHAPTER #1 UP)
by Kendra the Dark Empress
Summary: As the sonata plays, the players verge on a realization.


**Disclaimer: **I do not own Castlevania. I do not own the characters in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. But I sure wish I did. ^^

**Author's Note: **Kendra the Digimon Empress here. *chuckles* Or Kendra the Dark Empress. You didn't know I was a Castlevania fanatic, did you? *grins* Well, this is the first part in a series. I hope you enjoy.

**Series: **Nocturne Sonata

**Nocturne Sonata #1: Vlad**

**_Fathers and Sons_**

Things went wrong from the start. That parent-son relationship birthed, shrivelled, then tried up, like a rotten apple. Sometimes I wonder if things would have been different if I'd acted differently from the start? What am I saying? I'm dwelling on the past.

I abandoned him. For twenty-four years we were apart and during those years, the damage was done. I would like to start with a clean slate, but all the humanity that rubbed off on him can't be wiped away.

I didn't think much of him during the years he was growing up. I wanted to be rid of him. No true vampire has a union with a human being and produces a child from it. To conceal him, I sent him to live with his mother in the village. I denied his entire existence and none of my minions or the townspeople thought that he could be anything but humanuntil he was older that is.

I automatically assumed he was human. Had I known, I would have kept him. You can understand how was terribly shocked to see my son after our prolonged separation. At twenty, the vampire in him was starting to show through. Only a vampire could have skin as white as marble like my son does or hair so unnaturally shiny and luminous. The instant I saw him I realized he was a vampire and then I saw what a huge mistake I had made by leaving him.

Well, maybe I shouldn't say vampire. He wasn't fully a vampire then. The beast in his blood was just starting to awaken. It would take some time before he craved blood and his teeth had completely sharpened into fangs. Once he lost the ability to endure sunlight, the villagers would suspect nothing. I didn't feel compelled to act sooner and reveal myself to him. 

Not yet

Perhaps it had to do with curiosity. I wanted to see how this fledgling vampire would act on his own and respond to his unexplainable urges. While his mother was sewing or helping the sick, I watched him from the shadows, letting him discover his vampire nature. It was amusing, of course, watching him roam the streets and stare hungrily at the necks of beautiful women and foppish young men. He had excellent taste, but what infuriated me to no end was that he never acted. He knew what he wanted, but he didn't know what to do with his fangs. Many a meal got away from him in those days.

Maybe he knew what to do, but a conscience stopped him. Lisa wouldn't dare to dissuade me from drinking blood, but such a strong willed woman would have no qualms about discouraging her son from following in the footsteps of his father. Surely she recognized what he was changing in to. I never told her that I am a vampire, but somehow on our first encounter, she instinctively sensed that the silver haired old man she bumped into while drawing water from the well, was not human and was the evil vampire lord the villagers gossiped about. Most mortals would be terrified at having a vampire for a lover and having a vampire son. Lisa was different. She accepted both of us for what we are.

She was. She's dead now on account of those wretched humans. I visited her too frequently and they caught on. Then they decided she had to die. The local priest had her burned at the stake for witchcraft, not for being a vampire's betrothed. They thought that by accusing her of heresy and sins against the church, I wouldn't suspect the real reason they killed her, and therefore my wrath wouldn't be aroused. They're wrong. Their lies are transparent to me and I hate them with a vengeance.

Now this may seem like it has nothing to do with my son, but it does. The burning of my Lisa. That nearly did me in and it was then that I decided I had to remove my son from the village. I had my servants carry him away as Lisa's funeral pyre went up in flames and they brought him to my castle hissing and struggling with all the fury of an angry vampire.

He knew I am his father. Lisa hasn't concealed his family history from him. Did he accept me? He had no choice except to, but he couldn't forgive me for "vamping" him and he was filled with village nonsense from the town about the terrible tortures that supposedly went on inside my castle. He came home reluctantly like a frightened puppy and of course I was upset, having to set my son straight and still having to cope with the loss of my beloved Lisa.

So that's how I came to live with my Adrian, though Alucard is the name that he goes by. Observation - that's how I was able to observe his powers up close. He possesses remarkable abilities, but it's a shame that he refuses to use them. What an utter waste! On his own, he has learned to cast magical spells and to use his attacks. He can shoot fireballs from his cape just like his dad, can summon spirits (sometimes four with a single incantation), and can turn himself into a bat. He's deadly with a sword and wields an heirloom his mother left him. It's frightfully heavy, but very potent, and does a lot of damage. I've never gone for hand to hand combat. It's much more fun to confuse opponents and teleport about a room. I prefer to hit and run. I can't criticize my son's methods. Nobody beats him in a sword fight. I only wish he'd actually fight more.

That's his weakness. He has a disgusting sympathy for humans. Having been raised as one, he pities them, even though he looked on in horror while they burned his mother. It's ironic that while he won't make war on humans and carry out my plans for revenge, he still feeds upon them and relishes the taste of human blood in his mouth. This, I guess, is a step in the right direction.

I find his pity for humans nauseating. Every night I hear about it I have to go out and suck the blood of another human to make up for the life that my son insists he won't take. My Alucard enjoys blood, but he won't take more then he needs. One human is enough to satisfy his palate, yet I know he desires more. The average vampire drinks from two to three humans per night. Sometimes four isn't enough for me. He can't possibly be full with one. He must hunger

He's going to have to accept who he is. He's losing respect over it. Not a night goes by where some minion doesn't laugh at the vampire with a human heart the master has for a son. I've admitted to them that I sired Alucard and there are moments where I regret it. Even Death, who has been my loyal companion and follower, snickers behind my back and chuckles at my son.

I would like to trust my son and have him rule by me at my right hand side, but if I did that, it would put me in a questionable position. My servants have to treat my son with respect in his presence, because he's their master's flesh and blood, but it would be a totally different situation if they found they had to take orders from him. The bosses, especially, would be upset. Some would accept him and others would not. As it is, I have to prevent some of them from taking matters into their own hands and going after the demon they consider to not truly be one of us. I dread what a powerful creature like Galamoth would do. That thunder god already is hard to restrain.

I have given my Alucard - ahem - Adrian! - his own quarters in the castle. He's responsible for them and is to guard them if my castle ever comes under siege. With would-be vampire hunters always springing up and boasting they are going to destroy me, he probably will find himself defending the fortress soon or later. It would be a remarkably strong or remarkably lucky vampire hunter who could even get as far as his quarters.

It's no secret that my son hates me, but I'm positive that he'd defend his father if it came to that. He denies that he will turn out to be like me, yet he cannot deny his blood. As he gets older and ages, but always in the body of an eternal twenty four-year-old, he'll find himself questioning his destiny, questioning the humans he believes are his brothers, and he'll be drawn deeper and deeper to the side of darkness. The villagers, now that they are aware of him, won't accept him and should he turn out not to be a proper vampire, then I won't until I've remolded him and made him into the ruthless, bloodthirsty creature of the night he was born to be. When rivers of blood flow at my son's hands and he can unleash flames of hellfire on them with no regrets, then and only then will my son truly belong to me.

There are rumors that he will leave me, break with his father entirely and go to eternal rest in some lonely crypt. He hasn't seen how hopeless escape from this prison, this castle he calls his home, is. Adrian. 

He can run but he won't get anywhere. I will send my swiftest servants to bring him back. I rule this land. There is no place he can hide from me. He can burrow into the bowels of the earth or flee to the furthest corners in the sky, but I will follow him. In my folly him cast you aside when he was little. Now he seeks to cast me aside. He found me, walking in one day and discovering I was visiting his mother.

He found the father who did not want to be found; but now that I am found, I accept him. I accept him as my son. 

If he runs, I will find him. I am a predator, more cunning then the wolf, and gradually he'll discover he is one too. He must accept me. He must accept he's my son. He must accept he's the son of a shadow lord, and when he's claimed, both father and son will plunge this world into shadow.

**TO BE CONTINUED  
**


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